love going on educational tours and this was a winner. (no problem getting our FAX confirmation and following the directions.) starting out we thought it might be a bit over-priced but by the time we were done we were all very pleased with our tour and thought it well worth it. guides were knowledgeable and nice, easy walk around the grounds (my 81 yr old mom had no problem.) great fun tasting all the unusual and unique fruits, seeing the hand pollination of the vanilla orchid, and the "challenge" of identifying the dark chocolate origins. good idea to have coloring and nearby chickens to help the younger crowd stay busy. would definitely recommend it. read more

We took the tour with a party of 4 (2 adults and 2 kids). The price was a little expensive for adults ($60) but the kids were free so if you average it out it seems reasonable. Steelgress is a young and growing farm. The guides are extremely knowledgeable and interactive. We enjoyed every minute of our tour and learned a great deal about the local fresh fruits. In addition to the fruits, we sampled a number of fancy chocolates. We would certainly visit again. read more

What a great tour..our guide was very knowledgeable. Would recommend for young and old.

Chocolate is great food - the thought of visiting a chocolate farm was too much for us to resist. Our children (ages 5-9) love chocolate also, so on our recent Kauai trip my wife and I dragged everyone out for the 3-hour tour. In short we loved it. The kids had fun tasting all the (mostly new) fruits and chocolates and we learned a tremendous amount about tropical fruits, plants, and the history of chocolate. We also learned about the chocolate making process (all theory, no hands on). Tour guide Evan was great and easily handled the questions from the guests, although there were not technical questions lobbed his way. I thought the kids might start to fall apart with all the education, but nope. We kept moving along and experiencing new stuff to keep them engaged. All in all, we spend about 10 minutes starting the tour, about 1 hour on the grounds tour and fruit tasting, and about 1.5 hours on chocolate tasting and discussion. We probably tasted 10 or 11 fruits and 13 chocolates. We also had an opportunity to taste the fresh chocolate cacao straight from the tree. I enjoyed this very much, but it was hit and miss with the group. Still, an excellent experience as you go through the process to see the taste emerge from the fresh fruit to the fermented and separated nibs. It was a very unique experience and gives me a new perspective on chocolate - much like the subtle variations in wine. It's true, I could have purchased a dozen premium chocolates from a grocer and taste them myself for less money (and more chocolate), but I would never have developed the appreciation for the fruit, the process, and the taste variations in the final product. I would highly recommend this tour. On the negative side, this is three hours spent outdoors in a tropical environment. Expect heat, rain, bugs. Smartly, the tour includes the use of a Deet free mosquito repellent. It worked well enough for us to buy more for the rest of our stay on the island. Our kids were perfectly happy spending this time outside but on another day, perhaps not - it may not be for every family. read more

Really enjoyed the 3 hour tour of the farm. So far they have planted 200 caocao trees with a goal of 500. Matt, our guide, made all enjoyable and accessible to all ages. Not only an education in chocolate production but also nice experience of tropical fruits, honey, tropical plants. Our daughters 10 and 6 years old loved the tasting of the tropical fruit, experiencing a "blessing" from a papyrus plant and dark chocolate tasting. Our 6 year old enjoyed drawing faces and thumbs up or down to rate her experience of the chocolates. Well worth the time and money (only $60 per adult and kids free). Nice farm experience, not a tourist trap. Lots of families with kids even younger than ours -- the kids roamed around under parents' watchful eyes. Very relaxed and pleasant. For those with physical challenges, the employees can drive visitors down and up the hill. read more

Of most of the places I went to in Kauai, I thought this was one of the better locations. The tour they guide you through isn't just about chocolate, but many of the other native and invasive flora which have made Hawaii their home, and many of them which have edible goodies to nibble on. They talk about the cultural significance of the foods and plants before eventually working their way into doing the same for the chocolate. They let you taste raw cocoa bean straight from the fruit that bears it, give an overview on the various nutritional aspects of chocolate, and then end it with a sampling of a wide variety of fine chocolates from across the globe. Unfortunately this plantation is not generating its own chocolates, yet, but overall it was a very insightful, relaxing, and delicious tour. read more

Awesome tour. The tour guide was knowledgeable and engaging as she weaved loads of information into stories and history about the island, the land, the fruit and the chocolate. The fruit tasting and grounds tour was a pleasant surprise but in no way did they short us on what we came for: the chocolate. The tasting at the end was both delicious and insightful as we learned about not only the machine factory ways of making chocolate but also the more home friendly tricks for the potential few who are brave enough to try it on their own. She began by leading us through the ten varieties of chocolate from the islands and around the world but then opened the floor for those who wanted more to grab as much as they pleased. Overall a very good experience and would recommend to anyone if not for the chocolate experience than the beautiful tropical surroundings and the light hearted atmosphere. read more

So I called up and learned they charge $60 dollars per person. Pretty darn steep but then again, they advertised themselves to be a chocolate farm, so there was something to learn so the thinking was. Came with a friend and pulled up in a car, we were greeted by a hyperactive young man, with a huge fake smile on his face. We were a little freaked out by the insane amount of teeth he was showing but decided to ignore him and proceeded to pay $60 dollars each. the tour started with the tour guide showing one singular lime tree while the second tour guide gave out minuscule bits of lime pieces with equally tiny sugar cane cubes to taste what they lime tree tasted like. Noted mentally that it was strange for an 8 acre farm to only have one lime tree, and for the price of admission we should of at least gotten a lime to go. them few feet away we were introduced to one singular acerola cherry tree and each received a singular cherry to taste. then proceeded further down the slope to taste half a rombutan and each got one tiny lichee fruit to taste.Then continued on to the chocolate part of the tour. Instead of seeing acres and acres of chocolate trees maturing at different stages like it was mentioned on their website, all were seated next to measly 2 cacao trees and shown the cacao pods growing on them. when asked about seeing the actual "farm" we were dismissively told that its too far spread out to go see it. From the looks of the place, we didn't think there were that many trees to begin with, counted about 20. NOT MUCH OF A REAL FARM LIKE ADVERTISED AND TOUTED ON THE WEBSITE! MORE LIKE A TOURIST TRAP ATTRACTION. I laughed to myself and leaned over to friend saying, that all people here just got seriously ripped off, we all fell for just another tourist trap. Here these guys got a couple of trees growing and making a huge living out of it, squeezing out tourist dollar instead of being an honest farmer. this is no farm, this is a large garden with a few trees growing here and there. so then proceeded to be seated under the tent and tasted 10 varieties of store bought chocolate, NONE OF WHICH BY THE WAY STEELGRASS FARM MAKES! the tasting was difficult to do because they offered each person such a minuscule bite it was hard to tell what you were tasting in the first place. again, thought for $60 dollars a pop, they should give you the darn chocolates let alone, insist on these minuscule amount. so we tasted 10 store bought chocolate bars, but Steelgrass farms chocolate was nowhere to be found. what a joke I thought. After that, we were ushered back to the original place of gathering to buy chocolate bars, the old patriarch standing over the table selling store bought bars for $6 bucks a pop with a huge wad of money in his hand, again Steelgrass farms label was missing. you would think that after such a detailed website that they had on chocolate, that they are serious cacao growers but the place turned out to be nothing more then another tourist trap and an extremely expensive one. would have been ok to pay $10 for admission. but $60? give me a brake, what a rip off. both of us felt insulted by it all, not to mention the waste of time. read more

DO NOT TAKE THIS TOUR. This tour is very misleading, as is the name of this "farm." These folks have a small grove of young cacao trees on their small subdivision acreage, and guess what...THEY ARE NOT MAKING CHOCOLATE. Even if they were producing from their trees, their small number of trees would produce such a small amount of chocolate that it wouldn't be nearly enough to sustain their tasting tours. I was shocked at the number of people on this tour - about 40, each paying $60/head. The tour guides talk your heads off about nothing for three hours. You taste a few fruits that you would be better off just buying at the farmer's market. Then they sit you down under a tent and you taste 10 different chocolates that you can find at your nearest Long's Drugs. NEVER DO YOU TASTE ANY CHOCOLATE FROM THIS FARM. I was highly disappointed that I wasted mine and my mother's time and money on this tour. I was hoping to share with her the whole process of making chocolate - harvesting the beans, fermenting them, drying, roasting, and then making the chocolate...as it is something I had spent time doing myself on another farm in Hawaii. In my opinion, THIS TOUR IS A SCAM. read more

We had a great time on this tour! First of all, I am an admitted chocoholic, so that made this even more interesting. Upon paying, we received directions via email and had no problem finding the site. It is tucked away in a residential area, but can easily be found. The warning about mosquitoes was accurate, but we experienced way worse at the fern grotto. The supplied insect repellant worked well and made them a non-issue. The tour itself started with a short briefing and interesting facts regarding chocolate. We then took the tour which showed us various plants on the farm and we were encouraged to pick some of them off the tree and try them. We then had a sampling of island fruits, many of which grow on the farm. I tried some that, admittedly, I probably would never have tried before. Who knew Soursop was actually delicious? The chocolate tasting at the end was really good and the best part of the tour. I found several new chocolates I really enjoyed and a couple that had very unique flavors. Very educational and enjoyable tour. read more

The tour was an absolute delight, made so by an entertaining and knowledgeable guide. We had a good sampling of local fruits, vegetables, and chocolate. The 3 hours flew by as we were thoroughly entertained by variety of historical and personal stories. I would say that if you are strictly into chocolate and agriculture you may not like this tour. If you are looking for something different, entertaining, and relaxing, this is perfect diversion from the beach activities. The tour is pricey but we found the entertainment value well worth it. It is better to book this tour with a few days left in Hawaii, as some of the fruit/vegetable information is useful when navigating the local farmers markets. We will definitely recommend this tour as one o the activities on the island and would love to come back in the future. Booking this tour through Expedia will save you some money on the price of admission. read more